Ford Motor China sales grow 21% in 1st half of 2008

.Shanghai - Ford Motor China posted sales of 172,411 units for the first-half of 2008, a 21-percent increase over the same period last year. First-half sales of Ford brand passenger cars and commercial vehicles reached 103,698 units, a 15-percent year-over-year increase.


"Despite challenging events that had significant impact in China and on the economy as a whole this year, we were still able to achieve healthy growth through the first six months," said Robert Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Motor China. "In addition to our strong sales, we continued to improve the quality of our products, broaden our brand-building efforts, and expand our aftersales and service network in China."

Ford Motor's passenger car joint-venture, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA) delivered first-half sales of 116,903 units, a 25 percent year-over-year increase. According to data released recently by China Passenger Car Association, CFMA kept its Top 10 manufacturers ranking in each of the first five months this year.

Jiangling Motors Corporation, Ford Motor's commercial vehicle investment in China, delivered 52,000 units sales for the first half, a 14 percent growth over last year. This included a 17 percent year-over-year increase in sales of the popular Ford Transit.

The Ford brand line-up produced by CFMA includes Ford Focus, new Ford Mondeo and Ford S-MAX. The Ford Mondeo safety upgrade version, Ford S-MAX 7-seat safety upgrade version and Ford S-MAX 5-seat version were introduced to the market during the second quarter. Ford also continued to expand its sales and service network across China, and now has more than 300 customer support locations covering the entire country.

"Ford will launch our new global small car in China, the new Ford Fiesta, in the second half of this year," said Graziano. "As gasoline prices continue to reach record levels in China, consumers have put more emphasis on fuel efficiency in their vehicle purchase decisions. The new Ford Fiesta is the right product coming to the market at the right time."

“With the launch of the new Ford Fiesta, our product offering in China will cover a full range of vehicles from small cars to MPVs to light buses, placing us in an even better position to satisfy Chinese customer needs,” added Graziano.

[Source : Ford]